


Mockingbird ~A Prompt Based Fic~

by Attempting_Writer



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: And in a similar way to when Damian did it, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Batfam Themed outfits, Field Trip, Hurt Dick Grayson, I go into a bit of detail in them, Lila Rossi Being a Jerk, Lila Rossi Faces Consequences, Strong Marinette Dupain-Cheng, except without a sword
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23774410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Attempting_Writer/pseuds/Attempting_Writer
Summary: A prompt based fic about mistaken identities.Based on this prompt https://stareyedmoonchild.tumblr.com/post/188615603032/mid-day-thoughts by StareyedmoonchildCrossposted on Tumblr
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Comments: 78
Kudos: 572





	1. The First Incident

Marinette had a feeling that this outfit was going to be a bad idea. _But it was just a simple homage to one of Gotham’s heroes,_ she rationalized to herself. _Didn’t mean it wasn’t still a bad idea_ , her thoughts continue as she struggles with the excessive amount of rope, binding her to her chair.

It was just a simple outfit, a leather jacket, black sleeves with the torso dyed with a tasteful shade of red, rather than that stoplight red, with a hood that splits in half and comes back together thanks to magnets that she sewn into the hem, when it rested on her shoulders. Tastefully green leggings under a reversible skirt that was black on the outside and a soft golden-yellow on the reverse side, somewhat resembling the Robins’ capes. _Hindsight 20/20, this was a terrible idea for wearing to Gotham._

She let out an annoyed sigh, causing the pillowcase they covered her head with to move a bit, near her mouth. She glances around the somewhat-see-through material of the low-quality pillowcase and sees that there were two bright lights shining at her as well as a blinking red light. _A camera? Must be a hostage or ransom thing_. She then realized that someone had been talking for a while, likely a cheesy monologue that she was tuning out, by default.

Suddenly, the pillowcase was pulled away, causing her head to jolt forwards for a bit. “Act Batman! Or your little bird’s _days_ are _numbered_!” She lifted her head and looked to her kidnapper only to groan in disappointment as she sees a cheap, green suit, covered in question marks. _Ugh, a visible disaster who makes stupid puns._ He suddenly looks at her with a look, somewhere between offended and annoyed, almost as if she said that out loud. He scoffs before turning the camera off and moving to a computer, likely to send the video.

* * *

Batman stands in an alley, above the three of The Riddler’s thugs, watching them roll around in pain and self-pity before turning his eyes to Robin, for an explanation. Robin, in question simply shrugs and rests his hands on his belt, “Don’t look at me, I found them like this.” Their attention is drawn to one thug that manages to push himself up by his hands and sit up, a bit. He gasps as he sees batman and grunts as he’s lifted up and pinned against the wall. “What happened here?” Batman leveled him with a cold glare.

The thug grunted and chuckled, smiling with a recently made tooth-sized gap in his teeth and an unevenly bruised lip, saying, “Ya’ little girl’s a strong one, but if ya’ don’t do what tha’ boss says, she’s gonna’ find herself _riddled_.” Drawing a disgusted “Tt” from Robin.

As if on cue, a beep draws Batman’s attention from the thug. He turns to Robin who had his finger against his earpiece, idly nudging a thug from his side to his back with his foot, “Oracle, what’s the problem?... No, not that I know of, but I wouldn’t be surprised.” He glances back to Batman, as if accusing him of something, “What does that have to do with anyth-… Ah… Yes, we found a few of his lackeys here in an alleyway, not far from the fashion district… Yes, it looks like it’s related. Forward it to us and let us know as soon as you find out who she is and where they’re keeping her. Tell the Reds and Blue as well. If he thinks she’s one of ours, we may need all hands on deck to get her out.” He hangs up and turns to Batman. “Do I have a sister I don’t know about?”

Batman takes a second to think it over. “… Not that I’ve heard.” This time both of their communicators beep as Oracle sends them the grainy video that the Riddler sent. After they both took the time to zip tie the thugs together and then watch the Riddler’s video, Batman receives a call from Red Hood, the moment he answers he’s greeted with, “Damn it, Bruce! You just can’t help yourself when it comes to adopting a raven haired, blue eyed child! Stop fucking up their lives!” He almost visibly flinches at the volume. Almost. They climb into the Batmobile and Bruce finally takes the time to answer, after Red Hood’s taken the time to cool off. “I don’t know who this girl is, and no, I haven’t adopted her.” He leaves a pause for just enough time to leave out the very obvious _yet_. “Just be Ready, If the Riddler thinks she’s one of us, we should be ready for anything.”

* * *

_This must have been going on for at least two hours._ She stares off into the distance, bored out of her mind. The Riddler was sitting in the corner, a clear look of frustration on his face. “… A face but no eyes-, “

“A clock.” She did nothing to disguise her boredom. He pauses for a moment before taking his cane and throwing it at the wall. _It looks like someone’s run out of riddles. Some Riddler._

“Oh, I got a doozy for you, birdy. What is…” He was briefly distracted by a commotion on the other side of the door out of the room. “… that noise?” He steps over to the wall and presses his ear to it before picking up his cane and stepping behind Marinette. He cuts her from the chair as only some of the rope loosens up and stands her up in front of him as the commotion gets louder as it approaches the door.

A few moments later, the sounds of struggling stops and they’re left in relative silence, apart from the Riddler’s panicked breathing and what sounds like him fiddling with the rope she’s tied up in. After a few seconds, he takes a breath, about to call out to his goons outside, but instead he lets out a high pitched squeal as Batman bursts through the door, followed by Robin. The Riddler double-takes between Marinette and Robin. “Wh-what the…? There’s two of you?”

Batman takes a step forward. “It’s alright, there’s no need to panic here. You’re safe now.”

Robin, on the other hand simply shifted weight from one foot to the other as he sidesteps for a better angle, sword drawn and ready to attack and split his attention. “I’m pretty sure that was The Riddler screaming, and not her.”

“Not any closer!” The Riddler shouts as he grabs some loose rope and attempts to hold it against the front of her neck, but she has time to notice the tangles that he wrapped his wrists in, in the process. As Nightwing, Red Robin, and Red Hood burst from the skylights, Marinette takes her opportunity to take a bunch of rope in between her teeth and bite down before ducking and twisting around to face him, as she tightens the tangled rope around his wrists and pulls him down with a bow. Before he’s able to react, she uses her bending momentum to drive her heel into his forehead, letting go of the rope as he stumbles back into the wall with a thud and collapses onto the floor in an unconscious heap.

While Marinette was letting out a small whoop and said something _in French_ , to herself along the lines of “ _First Gotham Villain!_ ” She turns, smiling to face Gotham’s vigilantes, still frozen in their combat positions. Well they’re frozen apart from their jaws, which apart from Red Hood are very visibly slacked. Her smile falls a bit as she glances at the rest of them, “Uhm… Hello? Can I have some help?” She twists her torso a bit in front of them, showing that while some of the rope is loose, there’s quite a bit of tangling and knots keeping her arms secured.

Robin was the first to snap out of it and approach her, holding the back of the blade, near the tip as he carefully cut the ropes off her. As he was closer, she noticed the pink in his cheeks was getting pinker as he untied her, likely only then noticing that her outfit was loosely based off his own. To cut the tension he clears his throat, drawing his siblings and father out of their stupor, “Are you hurt miss…?”

Marinette smiles politely at him. “Marinette… Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And I’m alright, just a couple bruises and maybe a bit of rope burn. You should see the other guys.” She giggles softly at her attempt at a joke. She stretches her freed arms up. She steps to the side to pick up her purse from where her chair was and checks inside. She turns back to her rescuers. “Can… If it’s not too much trouble, can I have a ride back to my hotel? The class I’m with is probably worried sick about me… or… some of them. We’re staying at the Four Points Hotel, by the Wayne foundation building.” It dawns on Batman, who this girl is. The French student who won that contest for their class to win a month’s stay in Gotham courtesy of himself, Bruce Wayne, he steps forwards, “Of course miss.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lovely day at the Museum... er... lovely start to the day, until the Museum

Nightwing arrived first, to the Gotham Museum of Antiquities, passing by the first police barricade. Apparently, the Scarecrow thought he could earn an easy ransom from the tourists and displays, but it’s been almost an hour and a half, and he hasn’t made any demands yet. Nightwing’s expression was already grim, when he saw that there was already a lot of fear gas leaking from the windows, but it turned sour as he turned to see, among the victims that got out, particularly a familiar group of teenagers, being fawned over by a familiar adult. Dick remembered when they dropped Marinette off at her hotel, after taking her statement at the GCPD of course, and how they all treated her. Some of them, those that weren’t being tended to by doctors with copies of the fear toxin antidote, were wearing bandanas over their faces as if it would protect them from the gas. He does a quick headcount and, while he’s not sure if anyone else may have been missing, he does notice a certain lack of a once-robin-dressed teenager. As he straightens his expression and approaches, a green-eyed blond boy jumps up from the stool he was sitting on and runs up to him, pulling a baby-blue bandana from his face.

“Nightwing! Marinette’s still in there!” Adrien shouted desperately. “We were separated as we were running out. She made each of us one of these. They’ve protected us from the gas…” He glances back at the group before wincing a bit before offering his bandana. “Well, those of us that were wearing one.” Nightwing takes it and notices that it’s a lot firmer than he’d expected, likely meant to be tightly wrapped around and molded to the face to provide actual protection from the air. It’s a lucky break as Dick had forgotten, again, to replace the cracked hose in his respirator. Nightwing offers a nod and his thanks before wrapping his face and grappling himself to the roof to try and scope the place out.

He brings a hand to his earpiece and begins, “I’m here at the museum and I spotted a few familiar faces from last night. Looks like our mockingbird’s in trouble again…” He positions himself above a skylight and tries to peek in, without his shadow showing of course. “Mockingbird, yeah. Remember? She was dressed like Robin?” He paused for a moment, ducking away from the skylight to continue, “She kicked the Riddler in the face with her arms tied up and Robin immediately fell in love with her.” Dick flinched as shouting immediately invaded his earpiece. “Anyways, I’m standing by for backup, sounds like Scarecrow’s got quite a few goons on his heel today.” He stands at the skylight for a little while, barely able to see through the gas, apart from shapes moving around. He sighed and pulled out a tablet to check everyone’s eta., when he hears a great deal of struggling, followed by gunshots from inside the museum. He puts the tablet away and calls into his earpiece, “Shots fired! Shots fired! I’m heading in!” He checks the bandana on his face and takes a deep breath before leaping in, through the skylight.

By the time Nightwing lands on the floor, the shooting has stopped, but he hears the manic shouting of a familiar voice, in French. He quickly runs over to find Marinette, bandana-less, straddling someone’s chest and repeatedly driving her fists into his burlap-covered face, all the while screaming something in French about a butterfly. Nightwing doesn’t take time to notice the unconscious bodies of the goons surrounding them, as he loads a dart gun with anti-fear toxin and quickly fires it at her. It harmlessly breaks against her blue, denim jacket before she turns her crazed eyes to him. His muffled voice breaks the brief silence of her stare, “Oh shit.”

* * *

If you told Marinette that she would be encountering her second Gotham villain in two days, she would… not question it, especially after what happened last night with the Riddler, though she did wish that it wouldn’t happen so soon.

She started to notice that something was wrong at the museum, when she was sitting by herself, sketching away at her newest design, inspired by, not just the antiquities around them, but also the layout of the building itself. She glances back up at the old vase, when someone walks by in some dirty coveralls with a burlap sack hanging from his belt. _That’s strange,_ she thought to herself, _He doesn’t look like the other staff._ She took a moment to look around, seeing a few more of these people, in their ragged coveralls, with their burlap sacks. She, as nonchalantly as she could, packed up her things and walked up to Mme. Bustier, starting, “Mme. Bustier? I think it’s time to gather the class.” Her voice was low and serious, as she avoided looking around and drawing attention to herself. “And I think it’s time to distribute the bandanas.”

The teacher nodded before the two of them start calling the class together. With the class together and the bandanas distributed, everyone started calmly making their way to the exit, with Marinette at the rear and Mme. Bustier leading. They were half-way through the lobby when they were cut off by two of the thugs, who were putting gas masks on and pulling weapons from their bags, and one of them speaks up, brandishing a broken bat, with splinters at the end, “Hey now. We’re about to start a new exhibition… Don’t’cha kids wanna stay and see the show?” The other was about to speak as he pointed his shortened pitchfork at them, that was until he got a flying kick to the side of his head with a blue converse sneaker. Marinette landed and rushed the thug still standing, pulling a yoyo out of her purse and tosses it at his knees, bringing him down to eye level before a few more swift blows bring him to the floor. She turns to her class, still frozen in fear before shouting a muffled, “Run!” at them.

As they’re drawn from their stupor, the pitchfork goon pulls a remote from his bag and quickly flips the switch on it, his bag immediately bursts the surrounding area, full of smoke. Most of Marinette’s classmates, along with their teacher quickly sprint for the exit. With Marinette quickly dispatching the pitchfork thug, she doesn’t notice as a hand reaches up to her face and pulls her pink bandana away, and before she’s able to react and turn, she’s shoved to the floor. As she lies there for a moment, choking on the gas in the immediate area, several more of the gas bombs go off, throughout the museum.

She comes to, shakily standing up to look around, barely able to see through the fog as she notices the scene around her shift. She’s back in Paris, standing in the street as StoneHeart seems to rise from a pile of boulders beside her. She takes a unsteady stance and looks at her hands to notice that she’s not in her ladybug suit and it was far too public to transform here. She braces for death as the monster brings a fist down to her face, but is startled that, despite him hitting her directly in the face, she was only sent to the floor. She realized that it was just an illusion, as she’s grabbed by her hair and pulled back up to her feet, the Parisian scene fades away as she’s brought back to the museum.

She can’t help but smirk as she grabs her assailant’s wrist and bends down, twisting her body and head, manipulating his arm into an arm bar, and, once she pulls herself out of his grip, she drives her foot into one of his shins and pushes forward, sending the goon’s head straight to the floor. His gasmask is knocked off in the process, exposing him to the fear gas. Marinette takes a moment to catch her breath as she watches him writhe around, shouting something about squirrels. She lets out a snort before turning towards the exit. Exhausted from the exercise, she starts towards the door, not noticing a third and fourth of Scarecrow’s men quickly approach her from behind and pick her up by her arms. “ _Son of a bitch!_ ” She shouts in French, as she struggles against the men dragging her back towards the main hall, where the other hostages have been herded to.

They bring her front and center and kneel her down, as she looks around, she notices the Scarecrow himself approach. She can’t help but to comment, “Oh look, my greatest fear: a man dressed worse than The Riddler,” which earns her some not-so-subtle laughter from a couple of henchmen. They quickly shut up when the Scarecrow turns to see who’s laughing at him. He turns back to her before bending down for a closer look.

After a moment, he lets out a laugh, distorted by his cheap voice modulator. “So, you’re the new bird that The Riddler warned us about… Doesn’t look like much.”

The henchman on her right arm, spoke up first, “She took out two of our men already, boss. Stinky Mark’s knocked out with his butt in the air and Joey’s peed himself from the gas again.” This earns an “Ewww!” from Marinette before the other henchman on her other arm commented as well, “Poor Joey…” Another henchman, off to the side, mumbled something along the lines of “Third time this month.”

Scarecrow simply sighs, covering some of his mask with his hand, as if he’d have an embarrassed blush to hide, “Why do I even bother with those two?” He recomposes himself and returns his attention to the little bird at his mercy, bending down to meet her eyes with the ones behind his mask, speaking softly in his practiced creepy voice, “And what, exactly, am I to do with you?” he hums before continuing, “Oh, I know. There’s a special fear toxin I’ve been working on… Let’s call it the Poison Ivy special.” (Ref to the new Harley Quinn series) “I’ve used it on quite a few people, already, but someone with your level of training as one of Batman’s brats may have a few unique side effects.” He chuckles for a moment before pulling out a small gas canister from his belt and sprays her in the face with it.

She tries to hold her breath, when she realizes what he’s doing, but it’s too late, she’s already taken in a gasp-full of gas. She’s sent into a deep haze as she’s thrown to the ground, barely able to catch herself as she hears Scarecrow’s laughter start to shift to a familiar cackle. She lifts herself up to see Hawkmoth, though not as he is normally, but young, feminine, with a familiarly terrible sausage hair. She sees Lila Rossi with Hawkmoth’s miraculous. She begins to scoot back and look around. All her friends, her Miraculous Team, transformed into their akumatized miraculous forms, bringing another cruel laugh from Lila before she speaks up, “ _See? I told you I’d turn all your friends against you_.” She scurries back on all fours, one of her greatest fears having been realized, though she doesn’t notice her greatest fear until she looks down at herself.

She’s transformed, but not just with her ladybug miraculous. She looks at herself for a moment, a deep purple bodysuit with an ornate gold trim. She looks at her hands to find a familiar ring on her finger before touching her face. She slowly comes to a shaky stance; her trembling hands curl tightly into fists. She wields an ultimate power, unparalleled and unpredictable. She could have anything in the world and cause it to lose something of equal value or remove anything and accidentally bring something worse in its place.

She can’t think too hard about anything.

She can’t want anything too badly.

She can’t make the slightest decision for one thing or another.

But she can still kick some ass.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And shortly after that

“Nightwing, stay where you are, you still don’t have a working respirator, yet… Nightwing!” Batman groans as he places the receiver back onto the radio before hitting the throttle and pushing the control wheel forwards, bringing the batwing into a dive, towards the museum. Robin sits beside him, a canister of compressed liquid held close to his chest, while he appears calm, Batman notices a bit of tension in his son as the batwing comes to a hover over the museum before it smoothly lands on the roof, beside the skylight.

Without hesitation, once the batwing opens up, the two spring into action, respirators on, and crash through the glass. Batman drags along a large hose, from the batwing, and lets it hang in the center of the foyer. It immediately begins to draw in air, powerfully drawing the fear-toxin out of the Museum, towards the batwing to be chemically treated and harmlessly released into the open air. He takes a stance, ready for a fight as the smoke clears to show a mess of unconscious men, dressed similarly to the Scarecrow, with the Scarecrow, himself, sprawled out nearby, but isolated. His mask was torn off and he barely appeared to be breathing, and from the state of his face, Batman could guess why. He hears struggling behind him and quickly turns to face it.

Robin lands on an upper balcony, above the foyer, sprinting for the fire control system. He finds it suspicious that the entire path was left unguarded. Once there, he connects the canister to the sprinkler system and waits for the liquid to begin circulating, before turning the sprinklers on. He steps away from the pipes as all the sprinklers in the building start to go off. He takes a second to bask in it before running off to join his father and Nightwing in the fight. He returns to the balcony he landed on and peers over it to survey the fight, and is utterly disappointed by what he sees. He signs and calmly walks down a nearby set of stairs to find Batman kneeling beside Dick, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, who had a dazed Marinette sitting between his legs and leaning back against his chest.

She was bleary-eyed as she shakily held one hand against Batman’s wrist and another on his hand, which he was using to gently hold a medical respirator against her face. Her eyes slowly traced the movement in front of her before focusing on Robin as he approached. Batman followed her eyes to look at him, “Robin, I need to tie up the criminals before they regain consciousness. Help Nightwing and… Mockinbird, here. Scarecrow gave her his ‘vegetarian’ strain of fear toxin. The regular anti-toxin doesn’t seem to work, yet, but Poison Ivy’s sample seems to be working.”

“I tried to give her three doses of the regular anti-toxin, before I figured out what happened.” Nightwing grunted, bringing a hand to pinch his bleeding nose, trying not to touch any of the dark purple welts on his face, or the cut on his eyebrow. “The first two couldn’t even be administered properly… Her jacket’s bulletproof.” Robin kneels on their other side his hand replacing Batman’s on the inhaler as Marinette’s hands also transfer to hold onto Robin’s hand and wrist. Nightwing seems to take that moment to look around and notice all the guys that Batman is zip-tying together. “Whoa, anyone get the plate number of the hurricane that blew through this coastal town?”

Damian raises an eyebrow at that, looking around at the main hall, to watch some of the goons come to, realizing they’ve been caught. He returns his attention to his brother, “What do you mean? Are you saying that you arrived with it like this?

Dick shrugs with one shoulder before checking to see if the nosebleed has stopped, responding, “I was a bit preoccupied with this one, here.” He pointed at Marinette from above her head. Robin notices that Nightwing has only used one arm the whole time before he reaches over and starts to examine Nightwing’s shoulder, earning a loud hiss of pain, followed by, “Take it easy Robin, it’s dislocated… and I think… before that the forearm’s broken… Sprained an ankle, too…” He takes a moment to have a deep breath, wincing a bit. “Ribs too… at least three ribs cracked on the left side… one broken on the right.” He grunts as he pulls himself, and Marinette closer to the wall to sit up properly.

Robin, in the meantime, can’t seem to take his eyes off this girl in front of him. This small girl in front of him, was level-headed enough to keep calm when kidnapped and held hostage. She was flexible and athletic enough to kick the Riddler in the face with her arms tied behind her back. She had the combat experience to, not only take down a group of thugs while under the influence of Scarecrow’s fear toxin, but also kick the ass of Nightwing himself. He doesn’t realize he’s staring at her until she regains enough lucidity to look up and make eye contact with him. He hears a muffled, “Hello, again,” from under the facemask and feels his face grow warm.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Marinette after the Museu-?  
> Oh we're learning a bout that now?  
> Okay cool
> 
> I'm trying to find organic ways to explain how things are known about stuff and I don't even know where this story is going, so please be patient withmeimtryingmyhardestanddoingthebestican

The class, among the growing crowd of bystanders, news crews and first responders, watches with bated breath as they watch the Batwing hovering over the museum as the gas dissipates and the fire suppression system, inside comes to a stop. Adrien gasps and grows excited as crowds of people begin to funnel out, through the front doors. Still wet from their impromptu shower, they all quickly rush into the waiting arms of EMTs and Firefighters, armed with shock blankets, quickly distributing them and checking for any residual symptoms of the fear toxin.

No one among the class could see a pair of pigtails among them. Even Lila was searching the crowd with a deep and thoughtful frown, gently pressing down on the bandage on her shoulder, from where she got injected with the anti-toxin.

As the civilians rushed out, several police officers rushed in, guns and handcuffs at the ready. The class could only watch helplessly as, a nearby officer’s radio buzzed with indecipherable chatter. Though it was clear what was needed when said officer called five EMTs and sent them, with a gurney and medical bag, into the building. The silence that the class didn’t know they were keeping was broken by Nino, who asked, “Those sounds… you don’t think those were actual gunshots… do you? I mean, Nightwing was already on his way in when they went off, right? W-we didn’t see him go _into_ the building, b-but he was already inside right? They must have been shooting at him, right? He has an armored suit, r-right?” _Could they have shot Marinette?_

An overwhelming sense of dread came over the class as that question, or at least variations of it filled their minds despite going unsaid. They returned to their silence, curling in on themselves. Many of the couples among them: Alya and Nino, Ivan and Mylene, Rose and Juleka, sought comfort in one another as everyone, started to huddle closer to one another, apart from Lila, who stared blankly at the museum entrance, desperately searching for some news, some miracle to show that she hadn’t just made the greatest mistake of her life. Their answer came in the form of four of the five EMT’s coming out with a man on the gurney. They carried him down the stairs and brought him past the class, close enough that they saw that he was in a neck brace, had a bloody wicker mask covering his face and was cuffed to the gurney.

They were followed by a line of unmasked thugs, tied together by the wrists with zip-ties and being escorted by the police officers. Many of them were limping along, even more were sporting severe bruises to the face and head, one even had the top of his jumpsuit tied very awkwardly around his waist as if to hide something on the front of the lower half, but all of them were moaning and whining about how much pain they were in. The class’s growing hopes are quickly quelled when the batwing stops filtering the air in the museum and takes off as batman steps out of the museum’s front doors and walks down the steps, towards a police lieutenant to have a word and hand off control of the situation to him.

After a moment of talking, he offers the lieutenant a thumb drive and then turns towards the class, walking over with his practically-trademarked neutral expression. He scans them for a second, as if doing a headcount, before turning his head to Mme. Bustier. She instinctively steps towards him as he speaks up, to her and the class, “Everything is now under control, I recommend you return to your bus and take it back to your hotel, so that you can decompress and process everything.”

The students begin to pipe up, speaking all at once, mostly to ask about Marinette, “Any questions you have can be answered by checking the news, and the sooner you return to your bus, the sooner you can reunite with your classmate.” With a gesture to Mme. Bustier, she quickly herds the teens together and guides them through the crowds, with help from a cop in the perimeter, to their bus. As the filed on, Rose, who had entered first, freezes as she notices who was standing in the isle, leaning against one of the seats.

It was Marinette, sans jacket, with her black, long-sleeved shirt, with Nightwing’s symbol stitched onto the front in deep-blue thread, still clearly visible despite what looks like plastic wrap, tightly wound over her chest shoulder and waist; jeans that start off a solid black at the top, but softly fade to the same deep blue, from the knee to where they’re tucked into her boots; and bandages, wrapped tightly around her hands and knuckles, as well as another on the side of her neck. Despite it all, she smiled as her classmates on board quickly notice her presence. Rose can’t help but tear up, before running through the bus, directly at her, shouting a long, “Maarrineeeeeeeeeeette!” as she closed the distance between them and hugged her tightly, feeling her very cold and bumpy back and taking a second to realize that Marinette was groaning in pain and gently trying to push her off.

Hearing Rose’s cry, everyone else quickly began forcing themselves into the bus as well, pushing and shoving everyone ahead of them until everyone was tucked, tightly into the seats at the front half of the bus, staring at Marinette, wide eyed. Adrien and Alya had somehow forced their way to the forefront of the group, as well. The two quickly checked her for injuries and noticed the bandages, on her hands and neck, and the ice packs, tightly fastened to her back and her left side by plastic wrap, as well as the bruise on her face, from when she was punched.

Alya is the first to break the awed silence, taking Marinette’s face into her hands and bringing her close to her face, “What. The _HELL!_ Did I miss? What happened to you? You look like if Ladybug couldn’t heal the city after her fights!” She takes a step back to generally gesture at the girl, drawing an embarrassed chuckle out of her as she awkwardly rubs her elbow.

Marinette thinks for a moment trying to remember what exactly happened, bringing her hands into her own view as she lightly flexes her fingers, wincing a bit at the pain in her knuckles. She takes a breath and starts, “Well, to be completely honest, I don’t really rem-”

“Oh. My. FUCKING GOD!” Chloe’s outcry interrupts Marinette, and everyone turns to glare at her. She doesn’t notice as her eyes are glued to her phone; a barely audible commentary can be heard from her ear buds. Sabrina, ever glued to her side, leans over to watch what she’s watching, gladly accepting an earbud from Chloe as the video is restarted. When Sabrina double-takes between the phone and Marinette, everyone takes this as a cue to pull their own phones out to look up what’s happened. A mix of gasps, wincing, and terrified awe among the class with very dramatic ‘Ohhh!’s and wincing and gagging from Kim, finally piques Marinette’s curiosity as she leans over Alya’s shoulder, prompting her to show her what they were looking at and restarting the video.

* * *

Apparently news travels fast as Gotham’s local news sites already have full articles based on the “New Bird”, with a video that was leaked from the Museum’s security cameras. The video, which everyone was watching, showed what happened immediately after the first gas bombs went off. In a thick cloud, it shows the two thugs at the edge of the smoke and Marinette falling to the floor, just out of it, gasping for breath. The poor quality of the video cannot make out any faces, though through her body language, it’s clear, that she quickly calms down while facing the still conscious thug, before dispatching him. The footage then cuts to when the Scarecrow sprays her in the face.

Batman visibly winces as he watches the footage that Oracle sends him, of the fight. Watching someone as small as her go so feral on so many men, especially with her improvised and fluid movements. It’s clear that while she is practiced, it certainly wasn’t formal training, though, after having received a face-full of the Scarecrow’s new fear toxin, she was likely in a hysterical frenzy, especially when she was landing blows, similar to Dick’s acrobatic style, with enough force for people, or perhaps otherwise, that are much bigger or stronger than these miscellaneous thugs. She must have been hallucinating something big to be going all out like that.

He glances back, from his place, standing next to the gurney, with Scarecrow’s unconscious body, at where Robin was resetting Dick’s shoulder, as Dick was biting down on Marinette’s Jacket, and one of the EMTs was checking out the bruises Marinette’s back and side before he returns his attention to the feed, skipping ahead until it was just the Scarecrow, slowly sitting up on the floor, visibly pained as Marinette kicks the lights out of his last goon, and draws a small gun from his belt. There wasn’t any noise, but he counted three flashes from the gun and three times Marinette recoils as she was hit in the back. Then, the Scarecrow seems to be trying and failing to fire again as Marinette slowly turns towards him. After half-a-second of him trying to desperately scoot away, she rushes at him, grabbing the gun from his hands and beginning to hit him in the head with it, until it slips out of her hands. She then climbs onto him, sits on his chest and begins to, blow after blow, punch him in the face. Shortly after that, Nightwing arrived.

He stops watching the video there and turns away from the four EMTs with the gurney and walks over to where the others were. He picked up Marinette’s jacket, examining it closely. At first glance, and ignoring the damage, it would appear to be a simple denim jacket, deeply blue to match the rest of Marinette’s ensemble, but with black-dyed leather sewn into the back, shoulders, and sleeves. When held out it generally matched Nightwing’s symbol, bringing the smallest of smiles onto Batman’s lips. “Normally I would say that it was dangerous to dress similarly to any of us, but considering what’s been happening since you arrived in Gotham…” He looks into the puncture marks on the back at the mostly unharmed inner lining of the jacket, and then at the slash in the side, where it appears the third bullet seems to only have grazed her. He notices _Wayne Enterprises C.A.L. Patent Pending_ printed under the torn cloth. “… And what you’re equipped with, I’d almost say it were safer this way. However, this does beg the question: How did you get your hands on this material? Not even _I_ have managed to get some to practice with, myself.”

Marinette simply smiled awkwardly up at him as the EMT was wrapping her up with plastic wrap to keep the ice on her back tight to her body. She thinks for a moment about what she would be allowed to say, before speaking up, “One of my classmates has a very protective father, who just happens to be the Mayor... of Paris. When he heard about our month-long trip to Gotham, simultaneously the most well-educated city as well as the most dangerous city in America, he wanted to commission some casual outfits that provide a bit of… protection…. So I got into contact with the host of the contest, Monsieur Drake-Wayne, and I convinced him to offer some supplies in exchange for protective, formal suits for his family. I’m meant to bring them over for final fittings in two days… I hope they like them.”

Robin, who was wrapping Nightwing’s arm in a temporary splint, grew tense as he idly listened to the conversation going on nearby, drawing a pained whine from Nightwing, “Aaagh… Robin, Robinrobinrobinrobinmyarmyouresqueezingmyarm,” To which, Robin simply let go of the arm in his hands, causing it to go lax and fall and hit Nightwing’s leg, drawing a pained yelp from him. Robin cursed under his breath and turned to Batman, “It’ll be easier to simply take him back to the cave, and fix him up there. I’ll take Nightwing in the Batwing.” He offers a nod to Marinette, “Uh, good work with… all that. I will see you later.” He starts to turn, but catches himself and turns back at her, “In general, I mean. I will see you in general… You did say you’d be here for a while, so your track record, thus far… you get it. We’re going to go.”

Batman and Marinette watch in confused silence as Robin practically drags Nightwing, who is trying to wave ‘goodbye’ despite it, to a stairwell. She can’t help but giggle at his fluster before looking around. The EMT that was taking care of her had already left, leaving her without the ability to thank them. She idly clicks her tongue before turning to Batman, “So, you like the jacket?” quickly shaking Batman out of his shock as he turns to glance at the jacket in his hands, closely examining the holes before turning his attention to the joints.

“I’ve heard about Wayne tech’s experimental cloth armor, but I’ve also heard that it’s… especially undependable at the seams. Do you mind if I take this in to run a few tests?” Batman idly flexes the material in his hands and flips it over, feeling the inside for signs of seams or unusually brittle points, as he continues, “You still have that other Robin-themed jacket, correct? Is that also lined with the same material?”

Marinette simply nods and smiles at him, “Of course, and I’ve brought a few more themed jackets as well, all of them are… eh… tactically lined.” She laughs awkwardly at that, “Monsieur Drake-Wayne gave me so much material to work with, and I was so excited for the trip, once I was done with all my classmates’ clothes, it just had to continue!” She catches herself before going into an excited rant about which outfits she may or may not have designed after who, “I’m sure you’ll get a chance to see a few more. After all, what happened twice will certainly happen a third time.” She pauses for a moment. It’s certainly a moment too long before she realizes the implications of what she just said, her hands dropping to her sides as she stares off at nothing in particular, “It’s going to be a long month isn’t it?”

Batman simply rests his hand on her arm, making sure not to jostle her too much and upset her injuries. He wants to reassure her that she would be safe from then on, that she wouldn’t be caught in the middle of an attack or kidnapping again, but in all honesty, he has a bad feeling that she and Robin will become very well acquainted before the month is through. He can only hope that she either doesn’t discover their identities or his children don’t scare her away before she becomes part of the family, one way or another. “Would you like me to take you to your bus? There’s a side entrance that isn’t covered with reporters, that we could use to get you there discreetly.” This grants him a small smile before he begins to lead her out.


	5. A Well Needed Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class takes a trip to Gotham Park and start a tour at Gotham Park Zoo.
> 
> A peaceful day of some bashful teens

Gotham Park’s fountain, a multi-level cascade of waterfalls, statues, and various plants that all guide the water down to the artificial duck pond in the center. Marinette watches it for a short while before taking a short walk to a nearby bench as she watches a clearing, where the rest of her class were finishing up their little breakfast picnic. Most were simply packing up their food and rubbish, still making time for idle chatter, while others had either just finished packing or were completely ignoring their food as they watched Kim and a local park performer have a _Mime-off,_ where they were trying to one-up the other’s miming. Kim wasn’t even close to the guy’s skill, but he was very enthusiastic.

She giggles softly at the scene and slowly takes a seat, leaning back into the bench with a sharp intake of breath as she feels the bench’s back press against her bruises. Feeling thankful for Tikki’s healing powers helping with the worst of the injuries to lessen them to mere bruises, she lets out a soft groan and checks her phone. They have another 45 minutes before they were meant to step into the zoo, more than enough time for her to continue her latest sketch. She pulls a little notebook from her satchel and opens it to the dog-eared page. On it is her latest design, an improvement on Robin’s suit. She continues to idly sketch around the collar, before moving on to his face, trying to recreate the way he looked at her in the museum.

She gets to a point where she’s quite happy with it, when she feels it again. Someone was watching her. She slowly turns her head up and to the right, to see, in the distance, a figure in red, with a bright red cape fluttering behind him, standing on the corner of the roof. He was holding something, likely binoculars, to his face. He brings them down from his face and then looks around before bringing them back up to his face. After a second, a figure in black and blue pops up from behind a short wall to glance over and hold something to his own face, also probably binoculars. After a second, he jumps up grabs the red-caped figure and pulls him behind the wall, likely to hide. This brings a soft laugh out of her.

She returns to her idle sketching, starting with a redesign of his cape. At the sound of a frustrated huff, behind her, she smiles to herself, saying out loud, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that they were following me because of you.” She turns again only to look behind the bench, to look at a boy, sitting on a nearby bench, suddenly going stiff. She smiles softly and glances down at his clothes; a nice, yet casual polo shirt, under a deep blue sweater-vest, tucked into a rather expensive brand of jeans. She patiently watches as he just sits there; after a moment he quickly hazards a glance to see that she hasn’t stopped staring. Now that they were both aware of their awareness of one another, she speaks up again, “I’ll hand it to you, I didn’t notice you following me until that stray cat said hello to me earlier. Why don’t you come on over? It’ll be easier to explain you can look me in the face.”

He awkwardly stands up and brushes himself off before stepping around the little knoll they’re on to sit on the other corner of the bench she’s sitting on. He hesitates before looking her in the eye. She doesn’t miss when he glances at her back, or at least the way her back leans against the bench. He especially doesn’t miss, when she holds two of her fingers to cover his eyes in her perspective. She smiles and lowers her hand, offering it in greeting, “Hi. I’m Marinette. You have a nice chin, by the way. Good genetics?”

He hesitates before taking her hand in his, noting the softness of the back of her hand and palms, yet the scarred and calloused fingertips. She works with her hands a lot. He notices the tension of her forearm, proving that she was not displaying strength, but holding it back, despite her firm handshake. He looked back up to her eyes, the sparkling blue measuring him, just as much as he was measuring her. He manages to fight the flush in his cheeks as he answers, “Damian, and I suppose I do. I’ve been told I’m an even mix of my parents.” They release the other’s hands. After noticing the expecting look on her face, he continues. “I apologize if I may have seemed… untoward. I heard about your class from my brother, and I may have taken a look at my brother’s copy of your itinerary, to meet you, first. When I recognized you from the museum video, on the news…” –He didn’t really need to feign his bashfulness as he looked away, towards the floor– “I… suppose I got cold feet.” He starts to relax as she gives him a sympathetic smile.

“Word moves fast, doesn’t it?” She giggles softly before continuing, “Don’t worry. I’m really nice when not high on fear toxin. Who’s your brother? Does he work for the tour agency we were booked with?” This draws a chuckle from Damian.

He hums awkwardly, “Well my brother’s name is Tim Drake. I believe he commissioned one of your classmates for a line of suits, for the Gala at the end of the month.” This causes Marinette’s eyes to widen in recognition.

“You’re Damian! Damian Wayne. I knew you were too familiar for this to be a coincidence. I practically memorized your family’s measurements for the suits.” She takes a breath to further comment, when she’s interrupted by the soft beeping of her phone. She pulls her phone out to check, before clicking her tongue. She sighs as she starts to get up, letting out the faintest of grunts as she reacts to the change of pressure on her bruises. “Look it was nice to meet you, but we’re scheduled to head into the zoo about now. I’ll see you tomorrow…. Unless you’d like to join me in the zoo after our tour? It’s supposed to end in half an hour, but with my class. It’ll probably last an even 45 minutes.” She sends an endearing smile towards the huge group of misfits that she calls a class, where, somehow, the mime-off between Kim and the performer has devolved into a dance-off, now including a guy with a snake on his shoulders.

He follows her gaze to her class and adopts a puzzled expression before returning his attention to her, answering, “I think I’d like that. I’ll see you in 45? I’ll be walking around before I meet you outside the auditorium, where the tour ends. We can get to know each other, better.” He syncs his watch before offering her a small smile.

She easily returns it, “It’s a date.” She takes the time to appreciate the color of his eyes before she hears a voice call out to her. She offers a small wave before turning and heading off to join the rest of the class. He takes a chance to look at her in earnest, including the outfit she was wearing. A pair of custom-fit black pants with red accented pockets and hem, along with a jacket with red sleeves and lower torso, along with a pair of bronze stripes that make an “X” on her back, that meet back up to form the same “X” at the front where the zipper is. The red at the shoulders is covered by an additional layer of black, that connects to the hood, as if it were a separate piece of the jacket itself.

“You must be feeling pretty smug, Drake. That outfit’s obviously a nod to you.” He turns and starts making his way towards the zoo, taking one more glance at Marinette as he heads over. He sees that she, once she made it back to her group, a group of girls quickly abandoned their packed-up picnic supplies. Most of them seemed excited for some reason as they all glanced back at him before turning back to each other and giggling.

Through the comms, Tim’s voice can be clearly heard as he replies, “I normally would be, but honestly I’m more proud of you than anything else, Damian.” This makes Damian take a pensive expression before looking up towards where Tim and Dick were perched, both of them had been watching from behind their half-wall.

Damian almost winces as Dick’s voice comes through, far too loud to be in his ear, “My littlest bro is going on a daaaaaaaate!!!!” Damian can see Nightwing’s ‘romantic flourish’, “And soon we’ll all meet her officially. And then you’ll go on more dates, and get married and—” Dick gasps dramatically, “—and I’m going to be one of the groomsmen! Or maybe… the best man!”

Damian lets out a huff, picking up his pace to the zoo, quickly retorting, “You don’t even know if I’m going to marry her…” He pops the collar of his shirt to hide the growing redness of his cheeks.

“Are you joking? Please tell me you’re joking.” Jason’s voice interrupts their com channel, though it seems he’s been listening long enough to hear their conversation. “She’s a badass; she’s cute as a button; and she’s got talent pouring from every pore. To top it all off, she’s totally receptive of your personality. You’re not going to find anyone with all those qualities ever again.”

Damian pauses in the line at the zoo’s front gate, thinking it over, “No pressure…. Right.” Once inside Damian cuts straight to the snack bar, ordering a chocolate bar and a soda. He takes a seat, not quite in the open, but noticeable enough for him to easily see the entrance and anyone entering would be able to find him if they were looking. As Marinette’s class files in and meets with their tour guide, he can see Marinette scan her horizon before their eyes meet. He can’t help but return her smile as she gives him a subtle wave before the group heads out for their tour.

In Damian’s distraction, he doesn’t notice as his hidden earpiece suddenly loses its signal, along with most of the phones in the area.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I've been in a bit of a creative Rutt while looking for a new apartment. Times is hard. :(


End file.
